Concerts

Sens, Rhétorique, Musique : Machaut and the Three Gifts of Nature

Time's Eldest Son: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary year of John Dowland

Presented by Friends of Music at St. Thomas's, the Apocryphonia Concert Series, and the Toronto Lachrimae Festival: Dowland 400. On February 20th, 1626 English lutenist and composer John Dowland died in London, leaving behind a legacy that brought him fame across Europe, and left him as one of the most recognizable names in renaissance music to this day. 400 years later, Diapente Renaissance Vocal Quintet celebrates the life and artistry of Dowland in Time's Eldest Son. This program follows Dowland's lifelong travels around Europe, and explores the persona he cultivated as a renaissance musical celebrity. Alongside music by his contemporaries and personal idols such as Luca Marenzio, Guillaume and Charles Tessier, Thomas Morley, and Thomas Tomkins, we will experience the music that made him the best selling secular song writer of his day. Featuring guest artist Felix Déak, viola da gamba.

Diapente Book of Carols 4

The Yuletide of Yore returns to York yet again! Toronto's only early music vocal quintet presents handpicked selections from its collection of Renaissance carols, motets and songs: the Diapente Book of Carols. Cheery festive favourites, majestic motets & musical holiday magick await your ears!

Madrigal: Origins

Before the 16th century madrigal became that genre we all know and love, it grew from simpler songs known as frottolas, ballatas & canzonettas. The Diapente Quintet invites you to hear how the style evolved over the course of the 1500s, from early vocal works by Bartolomeo Tromboncino & Sebastiano Festa all the way to the famous heavy-hitters of the madrigal world, Philippe Verdelot & Jacques Arcadelt

Secretorum: Private Devotional Music from the House of Tudor

The ascent of the House of Tudor ended decades of civil war and launched England into the Renaissance with a flourishing of art and commerce. Henry VIII, being denied an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon by the Pope, separated England from the Catholic Church. What followed was a period of confusion, iconoclasm, and death for many on both sides — Catholic and Protestant. Secretorum: Private Devotional Music from the House of Tudor invites you to contemplate what it means to believe at a time when openly practicing your faith could see you imprisoned, tortured, or killed.